FIRST FLOWERS OF SPRING!!! Mid Spring Edition

Glad to see so many survivors, Gita! :-)

I've been amazed at the things that are coming back for me--things I had given up for gone last year. But I also lost some things that really surprised me (like my agastache 'tutti frutti' which seemed so robust last year).

Gita: I can probably bring you some B&B salvia rooted cuttings -- I am rooting some now -- I promised some to Donner and I need some for myself, but should have enough to share with you as well.

A few shots of the small bed in front of the house. I love the color of the coral bells and my two small azaleas are blooming, they made it through the winter but the one I had in a pot did not.One of my alliums has bloomed!

Nice Catbird! That Heuchera looks awesome next to that silver leaved plant. What is that btw?

very pretty, Catbird! I'm looking forward to my first onion blooming as well.

My Jacob's Ladder just opened for me.

Now Catmint is that an onion blooming or a blooming onion? LOL

That's a pretty Jacob's Ladder. Mine died over the winter :( Luckily I have tons of baby volunteers so I'll have a few replacements! I bought a new one and planted it a few feet away though. They're so pretty and I was surprised at how long it bloomed!

Yay for ornamental onions! Mine should be starting this weekend too. Looking forward to getting home from work today to see them. They are so much fun to grow. Wish they would naturalize. Need to remember to get more this fall.

Thanks Seq. Haha blooming onion.

My onions are close too Typ. Photos!! :-)

Love blooming onion!!!!!the tips of their leaves seemed quite bothered by the cold that I wondered if they succumbed to the awful cold, but they have buds. Yay!! Can't wait.

I have a NOID plant growing near our Gingko that I think is an onion. It hasn't flowered yet but the bud is getting bigger. Definitely a volunteer. I'm going to let it flower so I can see what it is.

Catmint, that is a pretty combination with the Jacob's ladder and the pulmonaria. I like it.

Thanks Aspen! :-)

Seqouiadendron, the silver leaved plant in my picture is Lamium Silver Beacon. I got it at last springs swap from Holly. It has done really well there and is easy care and not invasive.. Also has a nice flower too.

A few of my Dwarf Iris to start. Fothergilla gardenii . 'Suzanne'.. finally getting big enough to look like something.

Catbird that is a very pretty lamium! I love the contrast between the leaf color and the blossom.

Gorgeous irises Holly! I keep looking at my irises but so far just a few bumps in the leaves

I have that lamium on my swap list.

I love alliums! The Schubertii that I got at the group buy are about to open.

SSG, what does the foliage of the Schubertii look like, is it kind of wavy? I notice I have two kinds coming up, which is good because I planted two. I just sort of mixed them up and didn't mark where what was.

Ooh Holly can I have some of the lamium? Pretty please? :-)

Sure can.

Hmm... I don't remember if it's wavy, but it's definitely much shorter than the other allium leaves.

Thanks Holly! :-)

My christophii and schubertii are all mixed up too! I'm waiting to see what they look like when they bloom so I can figure it out LOL

As requested, my 'Purple Sensation' Allium this afternoon. Also a pic of my 'Miss Bateman' clematis.

I'm SO GLAD it's spring! Loving all of the iris pictures. This is the first year I'll have blooms and I am expecting a yellow NOID bloom and one on the purple variety from Gita.

Oops! I thought I attached photos last night. I'll try this again...

The first and third photos show one of my Dodecatheon meadia (Shooting Star) plants.

I bought this baby dogwood to spruce up my shrub graveyard. Two Aucubas and a Japanese Pieris were given their last chances to grow there, and they're thriving years later. The wimpy-looking leatherleaf viburnum blooming in the background should start looking nicer now that more sun is reaching the area.

Sequoia, the rabbits don't eat my Chelone lyonii (pink turtlehead) plants either. The Chelone glabra are spindly and easy to snap off, so maybe that attracted them. They ate my Virginia Sweetspire last year, but I'm using systemic Bitrex this year and so far no munching. I sprayed them with rabbit repellent just in case.

Catmint:

I think I still have some seeds from mine; if I do, can I mail some to you please? :)
Also, I just LOVE your Jacob's Ladder with your Pulmonaria, such a gorgeous combination!

Holly, I love your Fothergilla; was looking at some at work yesterday wondering if I need one... I probably do. ;)

Typ, WOW, you've got loads of Allium buds and blooms, yay! I really look forward to seeing your Iris pics when they bloom. This is the first year for Irises for me too.. exciting, isn't it? I remember I bought one for myself last year for Mother's Day, and it's got a couple big fat buds on it now.. well, it did yesterday. Hoping for a lovely surprise when I go out to mow this morning. (I'll be sure to take pics) :)

Muddy, your dogwood and her background look wonderful and lush and happy!

I came home with 5 very tall "support hoops" yesterday - 2 for the Paeonies and the other 3 for some of the Irises... hopefully 3 will be enough, or I'll have to bring home more on Monday. WOW these things have gotten tall!! I know they're called "Tall Bearded Irises, but are they supposed to get nearly 5' tall!? (will get pics when I go out to mow).

Also, I brought home a lovely combo-pot that my beloved co-worker Michelle put together for me.. and a shepherd's hook to hang it on (since I have NO place to hang anything. By the way.. my first ever hanging pot of anything, and my first shepherd's hook, heehee). Again, photos later this morning. She's got alternating pink/white/blue ... can't remember now... sorta looks like Bacopa but is more upright. Anyway, 2 each of those 3 colours, and then 1 brilliant dark blue Lobelia, and then a Spike in the center for height. All in a lovely speckled grey hanging planter. This is my Mother's Day gift to myself this year. =)
Pics of everything (including anything new out back) after I'm done sweating like a hog over the mower! =)

Typ, your allium looks so luscious and enticing just beginning to open--like a half-unwrapped treasure! I need to get out there and check on mine--it was so close yesterday.

Muddy, I really like the structure of your new dogwood! Very nice. I hope you end up loving your dogwood as much as I love mine! :-)

Speedie, you're such a sweetie! :-) I would love some of your tutti frutti seeds! :-) Fothergilla--I picked one up on clearance at the end of the season last year--very bedraggled looking then-- but it's filling in nicely so far this year. The fuzzy flower balls are very nice. Is this something you would like Holly or I to get seeds from?

Support hoops--I should probably get a few of those to have on hand. 5' tall irises?? wow!

So nice of your coworker to make a lovely basket for you, Speedie! I've never had a hanging basket, either! Happy Mother's Day!! Looks like I'll be celebrating in the volleyball court as usual--LOL!

Wow, that shooting star is gorgeous! What an interesting looking flower.

I was thinking the same thing about the shooting star!

Went outside this morning and found my geum blooming! :-) This one feels like a small victory for me. Last year, one of my early acquisitions was a geum-- and I managed to kill it. :-( I ended up getting another on clearance at the end of the season, and was able to find a more suitable location for it--and here it is blooming for me! Good to know I've learned something over the past year!! ;-)

Typwc, Love those Allium I have a few getting ready to bloom.
Speedie, I highly recommend the Fothergilla it gets great fall color as well.

While I adore how Fothergilla looks, I think I'm going to have to pass, thank you. I think what we have decided on is something to go along the back fence-line, as a hedge-row. Maybe y'all can help me out please... we're gonna need something that'll take a lot of sun, somewhere between 5-8 or 9 feet tall (ya know, for privacy), but won't get too terribly wide/fat. Evergreen or deciduous is ok. Basically, it's gonna be along the chain-link fence between us and pesky neighbors, so we don't want to take up too much width from our side yard, nor do we want it growing over into their yard. (rather pain in the neck requirements, huh?) I hope no one shoots me for saying this but, they now have TWO rather nasty vicious dogs, one of which is allowed to roam untethered, so prickly and/or "not good to eat" shrubs would be PERFECTLY fine with me!

The soil will be well amended with compost at the time of installation, the drainage is relatively good as it is now, but it'll be at the base of a slight incline, so a wide range of moisture tolerance is something to consider as well.

Any ideas? Blooms, no blooms, evergreen, deciduous, whatever, pretty wide-open there. =)

Meanwhile, got the lawn mowed and babies checked on and watered as-needed. I've now got three little Caladium sprouts, Wheee!! Got the Irises propped up, and the bloom hoops are in place and ready for Ms. Paeony to smother 'em. =)

#1- Support hoops in place for the Paeony to grow up into.
#2- Irises also supported now-MUCH better!
3- The beautiful hanging basket that Michelle put together for me. Scaevola (??) I think, along with Bacopa.

That is a beautiful basket Speedie--sounds like you have a very nice friend at work!

For your fence--how about a Nellie Stevens holly? :-)

This message was edited May 10, 2014 2:33 PM

Speedie--

How about "Red-Tipped Photinia"? Often grown as a hedge.

http://homeguides.sfgate.com/red-tip-photinia-well-shade-68807.html

http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/1740/


Or--how about "Firethorn"---"Pyracantha" ??

http://urbanext.illinois.edu/shrubselector/detail_plant.cfm?PlantID=421

That would provide the thorns--pretty blooms and beautiful berries in the fall.

G,

I second Gita's recommendation of Photinia. Doesn't Pyracantha get some sort of blight?

Don't know, but Mine never did, happy

Apparently Photinia is very prone to disease: http://www.clemson.edu/extension/hgic/plants/landscape/shrubs/hgic1081.html

I was considering them to screen a view a number of years ago and remember reading about the spreading blight.
I ended up buying Cherry Laurels, which turned out to be just as bad for the same reason. Allegedly Photinia and Cherry Laurels aren't good hedge material because they are prone to disease as soon as one plant grows into its neighbor. They don't like to touch each other; I'm sure lack of adequate air circulation is the problem. I'm now cutting down my 8-10' Laurels because they've been on life support in the form of disease control sprays for years now.

Oh no, I was going to buy an Otto Luyken but decided to wait since the ones at the nursery didn't look so good. I wasn't sure if they were just winter damaged or diseased, but now I'm concerned that they're not going to be enough to overcome the harsh conditions of the Death Bed.

Mobot does says that Otto Luyken is more disease tolerant than the other laurels.

Holly, the two-toned green hosta: is that a humongous one? If so, I'm wondering if it's 'Sum of All'?

I don't think it is that big. Don't think more than 2ft if I remember right.

I have Schip laurel, Prunus laurocerasus “Schipkaensis”, but I saw the same diseases on my sister's Otto Luyken. Whether they get disease or not seems to depend a lot, however, on how much space is between each shrub. Mine were fine until they started growing into each other. They get "shot-hole" fungus, which is just disfiguring. What's very bad is some sort of disease that makes entire limbs die and never grow back.